Hat



July 5, 1938.

H. DOLAN HAT Filed April 17, 1936 m T N E V m ATTORNEY.

Patented July 5, 1938 UNITED STATES HAT Harry DolanyWeehawken, N. 'J.,assignor to United States Rubber'Products, Inc., New York, N. Y., acorporation of Delaware 'Application'April 17, 1936, Serial No. 74,823

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hats of the type having a crown and brim andmore particularly to improved means for yieldingly urging the'sweat bandinwardly away from the inner walls of the hat to yieldingly engage thehead of the wearer.

Felt and other hats having a crown and brim are commonly provided with aleather sweat band adapted to engage the head of the wearer.

It has been proposed heretofore to provide an elastic member such as anelastic cord within a hat about the sweat band to draw the latterinwardly away from the walls of the hat to cause the sweat band toyieldingly engage the head.

These elastic members, however, have not been extensively used duelargely to the fact that difficulty has been experienced heretofore indeveloping a satisfactory construction for movably retaining the elasticmembers in place between the inner wall of the hat and sweat band.

The present invention contemplates an extremely simple but satisfactoryconstruction for yieldingly urging the sweat band inwardly away from thewalls of the hat to cause it comfortably to embrace the head of thewearer, and resides in a length of elastic webbing which is secured in ahat about the sweatband and. has one longitudinal edge secured to theinner wall of the hat in .a tensioned condition while its other edge isdrawn inwardly by the tension of the webbing against the sweat band toexert a yielding inward pressure against the latter.

Another feature of the present invention resides in the construction andarrangement whereby the elastic webbing takes the place of the reedwhich is commonly placed in hats between the crown and sweat band, andalso whereby this webbing may serve to form the finishing edge or headwhich is frequently provided between the lower edge of the sweat bandand hat.

The various features of the invention will be more fully understood fromthe following description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawing illustrating good practical 7 'Fig. 4 is a sectional viewthrough a hat showing a modified construction.

The construction of the present invention while shown in connection witha felt hat of the fedora type, may be used in straw hats, derbys and 5other types of hats having a crown and brim.

The hat shown has a crown l and brim 2 and the sweat band 3 may beconstructed as usual except that it preferably has been subjected to athrumming operation to give it a permanent set or radius adjacent thepoint where it is sewed in the hat.

The means of the present invention for yieldingly urging the sweat band3 inwardly away from the walls of the hat is best shown in Fig. 3 l5 andcomprises a length of elastic webbing of the desired width and degree ofstrength. This length of webbing is secured in the hat in a tensionedcondition between the walls of the hat and the sweat band by sewing onelongitudinal edge of the webbing to the hat as at 5 while its oppositeedge is drawn inwardly by the tension of the elastic to cause the freeedge of the webbing to exert a yielding inward pressure upon the sweatband. As a result of this construction the webbing 4 when secured in thehat assumes the frusto conical construction best shown in Fi 3.

The ends of the length of webbing 4 are preferably, but not necessarily,sewed together as at 6 before the webbing is secured in the hat, andinthis case the diameter of the elastic band or ring shown in Fig. 3should be considerably less than the diameter of the sweat band so thatthe webbing will be secured. to the walls of the hat under tension. As aresult of this arrangement the row of stitches 5 serves firmly to securethe lower edge of the webbing in place so that it can not shift itsposition bodily in the hat, while the upper edge of the webbing is freeto move inwardly and outwardly to accommodate the configuration and sizeof the head of the person wearing the hat.

The sweat band 3 may be secured to the hat at the juncture of the brimand crown by the usual stitching l, and the elastic webbing in additionto performing its primary function of yieldingly urging the sweat bandinwardly, may serve also to replace the 'narrow strip of material knownas a reed which is frequently provided in 5 hats between the lowerportion of the sweat band and wall of the hat. It will, therefore, beseen that this elastic webbing eliminates the use of the usual reed.

In manufacturing hats a bead or finishing strip has frequently beenprovided heretofore between the lower edge of the sweat band and hat toprovide an ornamental line at this point. The elastic webbing 4 employedin accordance with the present invention may be arranged to form anornamental finishing strip at the lower 1 edge of the sweat band as willbe apparent from the modified construction of Fig. 4, wherein it will beseen that the elastic 4 is secured to the hat by a row of stitches 8 sothat its lower edge will be exposed at a point slightly below the edgeof the sweat band which is sewed to the hat by stitches 9 extendingthrough the elastic and to form an ornamental edging or bead at thelower edge of the sweat band.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

In a hat having a crown and brim that encircle the head opening, a sweatband secured at its lower edge to said hat to extend upwardly in the hatopening, and means surrounding the sweat band and located between theinner wall of the hat and sweat band and adapted to exert a yieldinginward pressure around the sweat band at a point well above its loweredge, said means comprisingv a length of elastic'webbing having its endsunited to form a ring that is considerably smaller'than the periphery ofsaid head opening and having its lower edge secured to the inner wall ofthe hat near the lower edge of the sweat band in a tensioned conditionwhile its upper edge is held spaced therefrom by the width of thewebbing and contracts about an intermediate portion of said sweat bandto press this intermediate portion of the sweat band inwardly.

HARRY DOLAN.

